Quirks: it’s old and smells like a good used bookstore; dust, incense, and old paper

This Yashica-D likes taking pictures people, lonely scenes, old cars

The Yashica-D is my first twin lens reflex camera and my first medium format camera. This is my most recent acquisition, purchased from eBay for about $35. I’m super impressed with the quality and ease of use with this guy. The view finder window is in really good shape and is sufficiently bright. This is the early production on the ‘D’, the later models had a brighter f/3.2 focusing lens, but this does the trick. When I first fooled around with it I was amazed by how clear the ground glass viewing screen is. It’s almost like looking at an LCD screen. Originally I was worried that without any focusing aids like on an SLR that it’d be a challenge to focus, but it’s so clear that focusing is easy. It does take some time to get used to seeing everything flipped in the viewing screen.

whoa, everything is flipped!

I never knew much about TLRs nor had much interest in them until I saw some great photos taken with one by NoiRcORNEr’s great photos of cats and Tommy Oshima’s intimate and moody portraits on flickr. Before this I was too intimidated to actually consider getting and using that old of a camera, especially one without a meter. But after seeing the possiblities of medium format, especially from TLRs, I knew that I had to get one.

old car, old camera, had to take the shot

For anyone interested in getting started in medium format I’d definitely recommend a TLR. They are simple and no fuss. Yashica’s are decent quality and can be purchased for a fair bit less than a Rolleiflex or Mamiyaflex. I can’t wait to put this guy to more use.